British City People, Moved to Country to Escape
Robot Bombs, Assist in Harvest of Bumper Crops
Joke Is on Hitler
As He Unwittingly
Aids Food Program
Whatever insane plans were
behind the Nazi robot bomb
ing, certainly helping the Eng
lish farmer was not one of
them. Yet that is what has
happened.
As the harvest season of
1944 approached, it seemed
certain that there would be
an acute shortage of farm la
borers. In other years the
army had been able to assist
with the harvest, but the army
is now busy in France and
^ elsewhere. There are few
) young men left in England.
The Women’s Land army has
helped all through the war
years, but this year it was al
ready fully employed.
The situation looked pretty bad
with the richest harvest since the
war and not enough help to bring
it in. Then along came the robot
bomb, or ••doodlebug," striking at
London and the surrounding coun
ties. The doodlebug does not have
the penetrating qualities of earlier
blitz bombs, but it has a blast effect
that covers a lot more territory.
During attacks houses are damaged
at the rate of 700 an hour.
So the evacuation of London was
begun all over again. One million
women, children and older men have
already left the city, and the second
million has started. Where are they
going? Straight to the farms where
they are helping to reap the wheat,
gather the corn, flax and other
crops.
Evacuation is an old story to most
of these people. They are the ones
who left during the blitz attacks of
1940 and ’41 and who returned to
their homes in 1942 and ’43. This
time many of them do not have
homes to which to return. Even
with the crews of plasterers, plumb
ers, tilers, etc., who follow along
after an attack to make “first aid"
repairs, the great majority of homes
are beyond repair. It is not surpris
ing then that many former towns
people plan to stay on farms after
*, the war.
Intend to Stay on farm.
In fact, ever since the war began,
quite a number of people have been
going on farms with the intention
of staying. They spend a period of
apprenticeship with a farmer first,
and usually make good farmers.
Even before the war the motor bus
had fairly revolutionized farm life
and took away some of its terrors
for townspeople. There have never
been many automobiles in England
because of their high cost, and prac
tically none in farming communi
ties. Bicycles have always been the
chief means of transportation.
The British equivalent to the
American county fair is the ‘‘walk
over," an annual fall event. Be
cause of the shorter distances in
England, the farmers go in groups
from one farm to another comparing
crops and produce. They gather for
tea in the afternoon and discuss the
methods of cultivation and argue
over breeds of cattle, etc. There is
quite a bit of 'interest in different
types of fertilizer and many have
been tried.
The farms are as a rule much
smaller than those in the U. S.—in
fact, all distances in England are
shorter than in this country since
the whole of Britain is about as
large as Illinois and Indiana put to
gether.
The English people are in good
spirits, notwithstanding the dread
ful bombings, and are looking for
ward to enjoying the fruits of peace.
Oddly enough, the farm animals
around London were more upset
f than the people. The doodlebugs
often fall or are shot down over
open country in the counties of Kent,
Sussex, Essex and Middlesex, all
on the channel coast. The cows par
ticularly were upset by the crazy
contraption and didn’t produce as
well as they had. However, it didn’t
take long for them to become ad
justed, as animals—especially cows
—usually do, and they are now up
to their previous records.
The way city people have adapted
themselves to farm life is remark- 1
able. Town girls who had never
been near a farm before are now
doing dairy work with a zest. They
are happy and look wonderful. They
are housed in brick buildings of
semi-permanent nature where they
eat in communal dining rooms that
are nicely furnished.
More Machinery in Use.
There has been a decided in
crease in the use of farm machinery
since the outbreak of war. Today
Making a “V for Victory” symbol
with his pitchfork, George Casely, an
English farmer, defies Hitler and his
bombs. ”He needn't think he can
starve us out,” said George, who op
erates a 50-acre dairy farm in
Devon.
England is the most highly mech
anized farming country in Europe.
The big tractor works that had con
templated closing down early in 1939
were given a contract by the govern
ment to produce all the tractors
they could. Farm machinery was
also shipped from Canada, Austra
lia and the United States.
In order to make the best use of
available machinery, plowing con
tractors were helped to extend their
operations, and farmers were asked
to help each other. In some coun
ties implement depots, where a
farmer could hire an implement for
a few shillings a day, were set up.
There has been a remarkable in
crease in the actual nUmber of ma
chinery of different types employed.
The number of tractors has about
tripled, cultivating instruments have
increased about two and a half times
the prewar level. Harvesting ma
chinery, however, has not shown a
comparable increase, but the intro
duction of improved types, such as
the combined harvester-thresher, to
gether with its greater use over
longer hours per day and for longer
periods, have helped.
Farm wages have almost doubled
since the war and it is hoped to
keep a considerable part of the in
crease after the war. This is im
portant because tenant farming in
England is widespread—most of the
farmers do not own the land they
work. They are furnished homes
with garden plots as part of their
wages, and usually live on one farm
all their lives. The wages are
reached by agreement between the
National Farmers' Union and the
Agricultural Farm Laborers’ Union.
Britain Feeding Self Now.
Before the war Britain was only
40 per cent self-sufficient in food,
and imported 8V4 million tons of ani
mal feed annually. Perhaps this
was the basis for Hitler’s decision
their share in shaping the plans of
the government, for the ministry of
agriculture consults regularly with
the National Farmers' union, the
workers’ unions, and the Central
Landowners’ association.
Before the outbreak of war in 1939
the minister of agriculture had
called for an increase in the amount
of land under the plow. In the
spring of 1939 a subsidy of two
pounds sterling ($8) an acre was
granted for the plowing-up of seven
year grassland and bringing it into
cleanliness and fertility, and imme
diately after war broke out, each
farmer was asked to plow up rough
ly 10 per cent of his unplowed land.
Further financial grants are now
made in order to encourage the pro
duction of certain crops and to dis
courage the production of others.
Payments of four pounds ($16) per
acre are made on crops of rye and
wheat harvested, and ten pounds
($40) per acre on potatoes.
The Farm Survey.
However, much of the land has
had to be reclaimed to offset losses
of land to military and industrial
use. Therefore, it was extremely
important that the best possible use
be made of each farm acre, and in
1941 the Farm Survey was initiated.
This survey consisted of: (1) a
“farm record’’ for each farm, con
taining information under the fol
lowing heads: conditions of tenure
and occupation; natural state of the
farm, including its fertility; the ade
quacy of its equipment; the degree
of infestation with weeds or pests;
the adequacy of water and electrici
ty supplies; the management con
dition of the farm, and its wartime
plowing-up record. The information
on the management condition of the
farm is summarized in the grading
of the farm as: (A) well farmed,
(B) moderately farmed, and (C)
badly farmed.
(2) The complete 1941 June 4 cen
sus return of the farm including all
the usual statistics of crop acreages
and live stock numbers together with
supplementary information, asked
especially for Farm Survey pur
poses, on length of occupation and
rent of the farm.
(3) A plan of the farm showing its
boundaries and the fields contained
in it, on six-inch or 12Vi-inch scale.
The Agricultural Executive com
mittees have the right of entry on
all farms and the power, which it
has not been necessary to use often,
to remove inefficient farmers. They
can compel farmers to follow their
directions, and have the power to
take over badly farmed land with
the consent of the minister of agri
culture. They may then rent this
land to suitable tenants, or farm and
improve it themselves. The land tak
en over is acquired at value when
possession is taken, and within five
years after the war it must be of
fered back to the original owner at
a price determined by agreement or
arbitration if the minister of agri
culture believes the land will be
properly managed and cultivated.
Today a trip through the English
countryside is a refreshing experi
ence. Wheat acreage has increased
from a million acres in 1939 to 3.200,
Tractors, many of them from the United States, rip up the English
grasslands as the British determinedly set to work to raise as much of
their own food as possible. At the outbreak of the war in 1939, the British
isles produced less than 40 per cent of their food. By 1944, they were
raising 70 per cent.
not to invade England; it looked
easier to bomb and starve the coun
try into submission.
But while the bombs were drop
ping in London and the seacoast
towns, the British farmers were busy
plowing up the grasslands. In 1939
there were 19 million acres of these
grasslands, and seven million acres
have now been brought under culti
vation. This is against two million
acres of grassland plowed up in
World War I. Today Britain is rais
ing more than 70 per cent of its
food.
The general policy governing agri
cultural production is laid down by
the cabinet, and the minister of ag
riculture is responsible for carry
ing out the government’s plans. The
execution of these plans is in the
hands of war agricultural executive
committees, who in turn appoint dis
trict committees of local farmers.
Farmers’ organizations, land owners
and agricultural workers all have
000 in 1944. Potato acreage was 700,
000 in 1939 and is now 1,400,000
acres. Milk production has increased
in consumptior total from 363 mil
lion gallons in the year ending
March, 1939, to 1 billion 40 million
gallons in the year ending March,
1944.
After two lessons in one genera
tion, the British farmer is deter
mined that the land must not go out
of cultivation again. Whether his de
sire will be realized or whether Brit
ain will return to the policy of im
porting food as a balance to manu
factured goods exported, is one of
the problems of peace. Perhaps the
two can be correlated with the in
creased use of farm products for
manufacturing purposes.
In any event, the farmers of Eng
land have joined hands with all the
farmers of the Allied nations to show
that this most peaceful of occupa
tions can become a mighty imple
ment of war.
All Sorts of Persuasion Used to Keep British Farm Hands on Land
Vigorous measures have been tak
en in Britain to keep farm laborers
on the land. Agricultural workers
who have left the industry have
been encouraged to return to it. and
conscientious objectors are used to
supplement the existing labor sup
ply. Labor gangs and labor pools
have been set up to supply labor
for drainage, harvesting and other
purposes. Special hostels have been
built by the ministry of works and
buildings to house mobile labor
gangs and members of labor pools.
Some groups live in small mobile
trailers in which they travel around
the country.
The schedule of reserved occupa
tions, set up on the outbreak of war,
was finally replaced in January, 1942,
by a system of personal deferment,
and all applications for deferment
of military service in respect of
workers on the land in the agricul
tural industry are dealt with by the
district manpower boards under a
special scheme operated jointly by
the ministry of agriculture and the
ministry of labor and national serv
ice through the county war agricul
tural executive committees.
In general, men over 25. if they
are bona fide farm workers, are j
retained in the industry; men under
25 are subject to an individual ex
amination and if they are deemed
to be ‘'key” workers where they are
employed, deferment is granted for
an indefinite period.
STflGESCREFN RADIO9
By VIRGINIA VALE
Released by Western Newspaper Union.
RTURO DE CORDOVA
could have spent the en
tire lunch time discussing his
first American starring role—
that of the swash-buckling pi
rate in “Frenchman’s Creek,”
the picture Paramount’s said
to have spent about four million dol
lars on. He could have told about
his work in Mexico, where he made
more than 30 movies, or told that
he's going right ahead, playing op
posite Betty Hutton in “Incendiary
Blonde,” because he’s so good But
ARTURO DE CORDOVA
he chose to talk about Joan Fon
taine, the heroine of "Frenchman’s
Creek’’—about how well she handles
a role quite different from her oth
ers, about how lovely she looks in
it—in short, about Joan.
How’s this for shooting the works
on a single picture? Metro an
nounces as the principals for "Week
end at the Waldorf" Ginger Rogers,
Lana Turner, Walter Pidgeon and
Van Johnson. The picture will be
in the general pattern of "Grand
Hotel."
-*
Paul Guilfoyle is enjoying ideal
working conditions—a set for "The
Master Race,” in which he has one
of the top roles, has been built prac
tically in his back yard at Encino.
-*
Watch the lad who does an extra
special jitterbug routine in “Youth
Runs Wild." He’s Pat Kane, 19, who
was blinded in one eye by shrapnel
in the Pearl Harbor disaster. He
and his partner, Laure Haile, were
among 24 hepcats ca'led in for the
picture; he’s a former Missouri
state champion jitterbug, she won
the national tango and rhumba
championship—and they've started
on a promising picture career.
Members of one of those Radio
City guided tours paused in front
of the RCA building. "High above
you you’ll see the Rainbow Room,
on the 70th floor, where a cocktail
party is being given for Fred War
ing," said the guide. But the sight
seers looked not at the towering
building, but at the man getting out
of a taxi at the curb—Gary Cooper,
who also towered above them.
-*
They've got to build a bit of Cen
tral Park in Hollywood for Samuel
Goldw;yn’s "The Wonder Man.”
California’s weather has set a 67
year record for clouds and overcast,
for all exteriors will be shot indoors,
on one of the largest greenery proj
ects ever tackled.
The CBS “American School of the
Air” launches its 15th season Octo
ber 9, offering listeners a liberal
education. With 400 army radio sta
tions taking the program, as well
as schools and the general public,
the science programs wil’ show how
returning soldiers can fit into jobs,
and also discuss new developments
in science. There are live different
divisions of these daily programs,
lasting till April 27.
--J; ■■ -
Paulette Goddard, Mary Treen,
Marie McDonald and the other girls
who play shipyard welders in "I
Love a Soldier” did it in borrowed
shoes. Only genuine workers can
buy those heavy work shoes with
steel-reinforced toes, so the com
pany asked real workers to lend
some.
Did you hear Cliff Edwards sing
ing “Careless Love” on Hildegarde's
program recently? Harry Sosnick
and his band did, and went straight
up in the air for a second—seems
Cliff was supposed to sing “I Can’t
Give You Anything but Love, Baby."
The appearance of Dinah Shore on
French soil inspired the editors of
the Continental Edition of Stars and
Stripes to come out with this head
line—“Is There Anything Finah—A
Gai in ODs stepped on shore, and
Who Was She but Dinah Shore!”
ODDS /f/VD ENDS—Lt. Wayne Mot
ris, former Warner liras. star, now in
the navy, has been auiurded the Dis
tinguished Flying Cross. . . . Karl Swen
son, “Lord henry Hrmihrop” of the
air's "Our Gal Sunday," still has the
rag dolt given him by his wife for good
luck when he auditioned for the role
seven and a half years ago. . . . Hedy
Lamarr makes her first appearance in a
costume picture in “Experiment Peril
ous"—and by the uay, lots of people
are annoyed because a Hollywood
make-up man and stocking expert suid
for publication that Hedy has piano
legs.
SWiMC CIRCLE 1SEEDLECRAFT
Cuddly Pup Everyone Will Love
7244
Sleepy Pup
THE caution to let sleeping dogs
* lie needn’t worry you with this
floppy, cuddly pooch — he’ll go
right on sleeping. Everyone loves
him!
An amusing toy, simple to make and In
expensive. Pattern 7244 contains a trans
fer pattern and directions tor dog; list ol
materials.
Due to an unusually large demand and
current war conditions, slightly more time
Is required In filling orders for a few of
the most papular pattern numbers.
Send your order to1
Sewing Circle Needlecraft Ilept.
564 W. Randolph St. Chicago 80, III.
Enclose 15 cents (plus one cent to
cover cost of mailing) for Pattern
No_
Name _
Addresa
Lizard Gunman
There exists a lizard “gunman”
that shoots with a jet of blood.
This remarkable marksman, the
Arizona spiny lizard, when on the
defensive, resorts to shooting, pro
jecting with startling suddenness
i and great force a thin stream of
blood from the corner of each eye.
Though the reptile’s attack is of
a comparatively harmless nature,
it is, nevertheless, most disarming
and the aggressor very seldom
stops to make further inquiry.
After this performance the liz
ard turns on its back and “shams
dead,” remaining motionless until
I it has recuperated from its efforts.
That’s Not Painless
Dentist—Stop waving your arms
and making faces, I haven’t even
touched your tooth.
Mrs. Brown — I know you
haven’t but you’re standing on my
corn.
A woman can rush through the
narrow, crowded aisles of a dime
store without toppling over a thing
—then drive home and knock the
door off a 12-foot garage.
Oh, That!
Jasper—That new girl is very
dove-like.
Joan—Soft and cooing?
Jasper—No, pigeon-toed.
Head and Foot
Joan—Where was your cousin
born?
Jasper—In California.
Joan—What part?
Jasper—All of him.
Interested
She had gone to the fortune teller and
had listened with increasing interest to
the sketch of her life.
“Madam," said the fortune teller in
her most impressive manner, “you
should be very, very happy. A nobler
man than your husband you have yet
to meet."
“llotv absolutely thrilling! When?"
There’s a great deal of differ
ence between being in a rut and
being in the groove.
Cats Up
A woman checking over her gro
cery bill, found this item: “One
tom cat, 15 cents.”
Indignant, she called up her
grocer and demanded an explana
tion.
“Oh, that is all right, Mrs.
Jones,” explained the grocer,
“that's an abbreviation for tomato
catsup.”
QuIckRelfct
FROM SNIFH.Y. STUFFY DISTRESS OF
Head Colds!
Instantly, relief from snlffly, sncrxf
distress of head colds starts to «nn»*
when you put a little Va-tro-nol up
each nostril. Also heips prevent
colds from developing If used In ttmai
Just try ltl Follow directions In folder.
VICKS VA-TRO-HO&
I SNAPPY FACTS"
ABOUT
RUBBER
----4
Consumption of rtdolntd
rubber in the United States
increased more than 50 per
cent from 1940 to 1943.
Reclaimed rubber may fre
quently be used In the
manufacture of the me
articles from which It woe
reclaimed.
In 1943 gasoline and motor
vehicle tax revenues combined
accounted for nearly 30 per
cent of the total state revenues.
Next year will mark the
thirtieth anniversary of the
use of motor vehicles la the
rural free delivery mail
service. Rubber-tired mall
cars had a bearing on the
passing ef the ftrst federal
aid highway law in 1910.
hum peace
BFGoodrich |
first in rubber
\>MW
—Buy War Savings Bonds—
“AH officers and men
• -1. > 'fi
will advance to
kill or be killed"
JLhis is no dreamed-up headline—no “tone poem* conceived on an inspired
typewriter. It’s the way the army explains the command “Fix bayonets-charge!"
Only the Infantry has it put to them in these words. As one doughboy said:
“I’ll remember those eleven words the rest of my life *
Remember? How can he forget them? They describe the climax of the
Infantryman’s assault—they describe the most cold-blooded action on a battle
field- Yet Infantry officers and men have advanced, countless times, to kill or
be killed ... at Saratoga ... at New Orleans ... the Argonne... New Guinea...
Salerno. There’s no rescinding of this order —no retreating — no nothing but
plain killing.
Right now, the men of the Infantry are closing in for the final kill. They’re
advancing every day—advancing to the order of “kill or be killed.” Remember
this the next time you see a doughboy on furlough. Remember this the next time
you almost forget to write that letter. Remember it till your dying day. You
can’t pay the doughboy back —but at least you can be forever mindful of his
role in this fight for freedom.
J
’Keep pout eye on the Infantry—THE DOUGHBOY DOES IT!*
